Adam Lanza's Father Has Finally Claimed His Son's Body

Update, Monday: Lanza's father, Peter, was, in fact, the person who claimed the body, a family spokesperson confirmed this morning. Private arrangements were held over the weekend, NBC News reports.

Original post: Over two weeks after he opened fire on a school full of children, killing 26 people as well as himself and his mother, Adam Lanza is heading to his final resting place. On Sunday, in a bulletin bereft of detail, the Connecticut chief medical examiner's office announced that the 20-year-old's body had been claimed for burial. They didn't say who claimed him, where he would be buried, if he would receive a funeral or really anything else about what will happen to the young mass murderer. Similarly, The New York Timescame up short in its search for details as "calls and messages to family members and a family spokesman were not immediately returned on Sunday night."

Who knows if we'll find out who wanted to give Lanza a proper burial. Perhaps it was his wealthy father, the man who's been conspicuously absent from coverage of the December 14 shooting and its aftermath. (Evidently, the father and son hadn't spoken in two years.) Maybe it was Adam's brother, Ryan, who's consistently found himself in troubling and compromising positions since the tragedy. The family did quietly bury Nancy Lanza, who was murdered by her son Adam, on December 20 in New Hampshire but hasn't said whether or not they planned to collect Adam's body. But somebody did, and now it's over.

In its own way, this is a good thing. Sure, there's the symbolism of Lanza being laid to rest and the community moving forward with its recovery. In a more practical way, though, if nobody had claimed it, the government would've had to pay over $1,500 to dispose of the body.

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.